Undisclosed agent

A charlatan, basically. The kind of knave who tells you, after having concluded a transaction with you , that he is in fact acting as agent for another, so is not himself principally liable for the legal consequences of what he has done.

Don't believe a word of it. An agent who doesn’t tell you he’s an agent is a principal.

If you want authority for that statement, take yourself back to your very first contract law lecture, the one which outlined the essential ingredients of a bargain: offer, acceptance and consideration. The terms offered and accepted bind. If the “agent” made no mention of his “agency”, it is not a term of the contract, and he is yours, fully liable as principal, to throw into the snarling teeth of the common law of contract.

Undisclosed principal

This should be contrasted with the fellow who tells you in good time he's an agent, all right, but just not for whom. More about that fellow can be found here. (in short, though, he too is effectively liable as principal (even if technically still an agent) until he's told you who his client is).

See also

• Agent
• Principal
• Riskless principal
• Undisclosed agent (a.k.a. knave)
• Undisclosed principal